Bariatric Surgery in West Islip

Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective long-term option for the management and treatment of obesity. As many of us know, diet and exercise programs, especially those that are not medically supervised, tend to fail over the long-term. Patients often regain some or all of the weight that they lost, leading to an endless cycle of new diets and exercises.

Combining bariatric surgery with lifestyle changes can instead result in excess body weight loss exceeding 80%, depending on the patient and the procedure performed. It’s important to remember that bariatric surgery procedure can only be successful when the patient changes their lifestyle by improving their diet and exercise habits. The combination of the procedure and this lifestyle change has a high success rate, both in weight loss and improving health. The primary goal of any bariatric procedure is to improve or eliminate the diseases associated with obesity, including type II diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and more. Each of the bariatric procedures that we offer is effective in controlling these diseases and improving our patients’ general health.

At South Shore Surgical Specialists in West Islip, we offer two kinds of bariatric procedures – restrictive and malabsorptive. A restrictive procedure is one that simply reduces the size of the usable volume of the stomach, while malabsorptive procedures limit the number of calories being absorbed through the small intestine. We offer the three bariatric procedures:

Gastric Bypass (Roux-en-Y)

The gastric bypass offers a combination of restriction and malabsorption, which results in the greatest potential weight loss of any of the procedures we offer here at South Shore Specialists in West Islip. From a weight loss and disease resolution potential standpoint, the gastric bypass is considered the gold standard and is ideal for patients who are suffering from type II diabetes and chronic acid reflux also known as GERD. Gastric bypass involves creating a new, smaller stomach and rerouting the small intestine. Some patients lose up to 80% of their excess body weight.

Gastric Sleeve

The gastric sleeve, also known as the sleeve gastrectomy, is the most straightforward all of the major bariatric procedures. While the gastric sleeve has been performed for many years, it was previously used as the first part of a duodenal switch. However, as the procedure showed effectiveness on its own, it has been used as a standalone bariatric surgery and has grown in popularity. By simply cutting away 75% of the existing stomach, the gastric sleeve offers patients up to 80% excess body weight loss.

Gastric Banding

Gastric banding, also known as the Lap-Band, is the least invasive of three procedures that we offer here in West Islip because it does not involve the cutting of the stomach or the rerouting of the small intestine. We simply place a silicone band around the top of the stomach and, when tightened, it forms two inter-connected chambers that limit the amount of food a patient can eat. While this procedure offers the lowest potential excess weight loss of any of the procedures we offer, it is also adjustable and removable.